Oregon National Forest Project Competes for Internet Votes Thanks To National Forest Foundation
National Forest Foundation has entered Whychus Creek Trails Project in a competition for a $50,000 grant from Redwood Creek Wines and Planet Green, Greater Outdoors Project
Oregon National Forest Project Competes for Internet Votes Thanks to National Forest Foundation
National Forest Foundation has entered Whychus Creek Trails Project in a competition for a $50,000 grant from Redwood Creek Wines and Planet Green, Greater Outdoors Project to help build a trail to the Lost River Whychus.
The Greater Outdoors Project awards financial grants to nonprofit organizations to use towards specific environmental projects that aim to preserve, protect and provide access to the great American outdoors. The Whychus Creek Trails Project is a finalist in their grant competition. The winner will be selected by ... Citizens of the Internet, through a vote-on-line or by-text process.
About the Whychus project
This project will build a 10-mile trail along Whychus Creek near Sisters, and restore damaged areas. The trail will lead hikers along this secretive stream, to waterfalls and spectacular Cascades scenery rising dramatically above the fast-growing Central Oregon communities of Bend and Sisters.
The planned trail will replace a growing network of damaging user-created trails. The project will also restore these illegal trails and roads, remove weeds and plant native species to restore watershed habitat with volunteers.
Much of this work is taking place in preparation for a much-anticipated event for the region's fisheries. In 2010, a new fish passage system on the downstream dam will allow steelhead and Chinook salmon to return to these tributaries for the first time in years.
About the area
Two spectacular streams pour down into this watershed - the Metolius River and Whychus Creek - each a designated Wild and Scenic River. The Metolius is well-known and much-loved, but suffers from heavy recreational use because of its popularity. The water that flows out of these mountains feeds the Deschutes River, a valuable watershed for communities, recreation and fisheries.
Within these sister watersheds, this project supported by National Forest Foundation will address damage done by recreational use, rejuvenate in-stream fish habitat, treat noxious weeds, reduce wildfire risk and restore burned areas. As Whychus Creek has been "found" again (at one time it had nearly disappeared due to irrigation use), a new wave of uncontained recreation is damaging this ruggedly beautiful watershed.
How the grant will be won
The National Forest Foundation has entered the Whychus Trails Project in this Internet competition. There are four other non-forest projects nationwide. Internet votes - to be cast by computer or text message by midnight, Eastern Time, May 31 - will determine which finalist wins.
For inspiration about how the Internet voting works, see NFF's www.nationalforests.org, or the Greater Outdoors Project website at www.blazethetrail.com/greatoutdoors/vote/. The voting concept is fun and engages the Citizens of the Internet in the final result!
The Forest Service in the Pacific Northwest sincerely appreciates businesses and people interested in sustainable public land stewardship.